Sixth Graders Test Their Memories

For their unit on memory and neuroscience, sixth graders are completing a series of labs that provide them with the opportunity “to use what they have learned about neurons and the anatomy of the brain to infer what helps people remember things better, how to perform a skill, and how to learn information,” says teacher Lindsay Mackintosh. In the first lab, students deduced that existing neural pathways make it easier to learn a skill, which reinforces the idea that it is easier to learn a skill if it is connected to something that already exists in one’s memory. In the second lab, students tested whether simply seeing objects or having a multisensory experience (visual, tactile, auditory, olfactory) with the objects makes it easier to remember what the objects are.

 

“This is the sixth grade’s first set of middle school labs, so we are focusing on collecting data and making claims supported with evidence,” adds Ms. Mackintosh. “Doing labs to support their learning requires students to think critically and make inferences using the information they have, which are skills that encourage them to question the world around them.” MORE PHOTOS